Itinerary for a tour in Southern Italy?

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andymiller
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Re: Itinerary for a tour in Southern Italy?

Post by andymiller »

The road along the Campania/Basilicata/Calabria coast is a bit of a mixture. Some of it is truly spectacular, and some of it is very dull.

Between Napoli and Sorrento the road is really a bit of a mixed bag. Pompei is always worth a visit (and there's a decent campsite there — the Spartacus). If you can get a boat from Napoli to Sorrento then that would be worth considering. I asked about bikes on boats in the ticket office at the port in Sorrento and I was told that yes you could take bikes on the boats, but I wasn't convinced. The general rule seemed to be that that the aliscafi (motorboats) didn't carry bikes and only the proper ferries did, but as Vorpal says, Alilauro definitely advertise that they carry bikes for 6€ each way.

The road from Sorrento to Salento is gorgeous. It isn't as busy as I expected it to be because they have now banned buses over a certain size as well as campers and caravans, and lorries have to travel at night. There were still a lot of people around in people carriers with dark glass — although lots of tourists seem to take the public buses. The rush seemed to start at about 10ish.

The road south from Sorrento to Paestum isn't desperately interesting, but you definitely have to visit (or just ride past) the archeological site at Paestum. Things get a lot more interesting once you get to Castellabate, and there's another gorgeous stretch of coast road to via Pisciotta, Palinuro, the Marina di Camerota and down into Scario. In many ways I preferred this stretch of coast to the Costiera Amalfitana — Positano in particular has been spoilt by tourism (lovely place but try finding a normal bar that will sell you a coffee at a normal price).

The next bit to Sapri is less interesting, but the road from Sapri via Maratea is spectacular and dramatic. The scenic road continues into Calabria and San Nicola Arcella (I took the old road).

After San Nicola Arcella it gets really pretty dull - although there are some nice towns along the way. Tropea is well worth a visit even though it will mean a detour. Diamante is worth a stop too. I only got as far as Tropea so I don't know what the rest is like.

Do not even think about visiting that section of the Calabria coast without having a tartufo di Pizzo (a ball of ice cream with chocolate in the centre). You'll only find the real thing in Pizzo or Tropea.

The road along the north coast of Sicilia (the SS113) is glorious. Not as dramatic as the Campania-Basilicata coast road, but still pretty lovely. It's strange because it seems to have been built as a fast main road, but because the nearby autostrada has taken all the through traffic there are almost no cars on it.

I think it is worth considering the option of a ferry from Sorrento to Palermo. It would mean you have more time in Sicilia, and cut out the duller parts of the Calabria coast, but on the other hand it would mean missing the Cilento coast road and Basilicata coast road — so while I'd say consider it, I'm not sure which option I would go for.

I've written up a (signposted) cycle route along the southern Sicilian coast from Trapani to Siracusa:

http://italy-cycling-guide.info/cyclewa ... ian-coast/
Last edited by andymiller on 18 Jan 2016, 11:27am, edited 4 times in total.
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raybo
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Re: Itinerary for a tour in Southern Italy?

Post by raybo »

I've been checking out sections of the SS18, the road that goes along the western coast of Campagna and Basilicata on Google maps. It looks to me like it is a fairly busy two-lane road, especially near the towns.

What has been your experience with vehicle traffic on this road south of Paestrum?
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groberts
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Re: Itinerary for a tour in Southern Italy?

Post by groberts »

Have you considered Umbria and Puglia instead i.e. the 'heel' of the boot, which IMO is much more suited to cycling and very beautiful? We went last April and found the weather even at that time of the year to be very good. Here's my write-up:

https://roundthebendpart1.wordpress.com ... pril-2015/
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honesty
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Re: Itinerary for a tour in Southern Italy?

Post by honesty »

My knowledge is 20 years old and Ive only been down the road in a car, but SS18 as I remember it was very busy. For the most part though there looks like there is a road on the coast that you can use SP175?

SS267 going around the Cilentan coast is very beautiful, but suffers again from too many cars at busy periods.

I stayed in Palinuro when I went down that way, and it is a lovely spot.
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Re: Itinerary for a tour in Southern Italy?

Post by Vorpal »

In general, I would avoid SS roads, at least at peak times, if possible, in the same way I would avoid A roads in the UK. SS roads are part of the national highways network (like US highways, where the autostrada is the equivalent of interstates). SR and SP roads are usually better. Local knowledge is typically required before using SS roads, or at least a recommendation from other cyclists. The same applies to unclassified ones. Although unclassified roads are likely to have only light traffic, they also sometimes have poor surfaces.
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andymiller
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Re: Itinerary for a tour in Southern Italy?

Post by andymiller »

The strade statali (and the strade regionali) can be either busy through roads or roads that the national or regional government maintains in order to relieve the burdens on the local councils along the way. The designation is only a very rough guide - they can be very busy, or they can be really, really, quiet. The Touring Club Italiano maps and Michelin maps colour some of the strade statali red to distinguish the major through roads, but even this isn't a definitive guide.

From Paestum I would really strongly urge you to take the SS267 via Agropoli and Castellabate, then pick up the SS447 and SS562 via Palinuro and the Marina di Camerota. This section of coast is very beautiful, and with relatively few tourists (unless you are there in August - this area is very popular with Italian holidaymakers). I enjoyed this section of road more than the Costiera Amalfitana. The section of the SS18 from Sapri via Maratea to Praia a Mare really is unmissable. At Praia a Mare you have the choice of following the old road that clings to the cliff edge or following the new SS18 over a huge viaduct. I thought the old road was fabulous but then I think the new one would also offer some spectacular views.

I would also follow the coast via Pizzo and Tropea rather than going via Vibo Valentia.

I remember a local in Palinuro talking about the 'superstrada' (and these generally are not bike-friendly). Looking at the map there may be two variants of the SS18 between Agropoli and the coast at Policastro Bussentino - one that is shown as a scenic map and one with a couple of tunnels. So be careful not to get on the wrong one.

South from San Nicolà Arcello the SS18 is very much a normal main road. It isn't desperately busy but it is pretty bit dull. Though as I said Diamante is nice. There are some roads that run between the beach and the train line - if you zoom in on the OSM or Google maps you can see them. But they aren't continuous so you'll need to spend some time working out which ones are worth the trouble. I have to say that I stuck with the SS18 and concentrated on getting the miles in - the coast south from Scalea really isn't very interesting. (But I may be being unfair).

If you are going that way watch out for the road into Guardia Piemontese. It's better to drop down into the town itself rather than stay on the SS18 which bypasses the town through some long tunnels.

There is a train line along this section of coast and one option so you could pick up the train for part of the journey.

This site may be useful for suggesting other options in the Cilento national park:

http://www.laviasilente.it/en/

I'd second the comment that there are other other parts of central and southern Italy that are worth considering. There's a chain of national parks along the Apennines in Abruzzo, Le March and Umbria. Puglia and Basilicata too.
Last edited by andymiller on 15 Jan 2016, 4:21pm, edited 1 time in total.
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honesty
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Re: Itinerary for a tour in Southern Italy?

Post by honesty »

The road just south of Palinuro was my favourite bit when we went there as kids, but that may have something to do with the grottos and the huge and empty beach!
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honesty
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Re: Itinerary for a tour in Southern Italy?

Post by honesty »

Had a look on google maps and am disappointed they seem to have put lots of deckchairs etc on the beach. When we used to go there was nothing for miles apart from a nightclub in one of the caves that was never open. Thinking about it though I watched Italy loose in the semi finals of the world cup in a pizzeria in Palinuro to a dodgy ref decision for Argentina. So that would be 1990. 26 years ago. Blimey.
raybo
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Re: Itinerary for a tour in Southern Italy?

Post by raybo »

Thanks for all the great input.

I have taken andymiller's advice and created a route that follows the coast down to San Nicola Arcella and then heads over the mountains to Cosenza and then back over the mountains to the coast at Amentea. By this, I hope to avoid uninteresting coastline and to sample some of the mountain views in Calabria. Here is my route: http://mycycletour.com/displayroute.php?RouteNumber=836
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andymiller
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Re: Itinerary for a tour in Southern Italy?

Post by andymiller »

honesty wrote:Had a look on google maps and am disappointed they seem to have put lots of deckchairs etc on the beach. When we used to go there was nothing for miles apart from a nightclub in one of the caves that was never open. Thinking about it though I watched Italy loose in the semi finals of the world cup in a pizzeria in Palinuro to a dodgy ref decision for Argentina. So that would be 1990. 26 years ago. Blimey.


Deckchairs on a beach in Italy? Surely not.

The southern Campania coast is relatively undeveloped, and is fairly quiet out of season, and during the week, but you definitely couldn't call it undiscovered.

There has been a lot of property development on the Calabria coast and a lot of it hasn't been very good - with developers going in, building apartments, but not much attention to other facilities.
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Re: Itinerary for a tour in Southern Italy?

Post by Vorpal »

andymiller wrote:The strade statali (and the strade regionali) can be either busy through roads or roads that the national or regional government maintains in order to relieve the burdens on the local councils along the way. The designation is only a very rough guide - they can be very busy, or they can be really, really, quiet. The Touring Club Italiano maps and Michelin maps colour some of the strade statali red to distinguish the major through roads, but even this isn't a definitive guide.

From Paestum I would really strongly urge you to take the SS267 via Agropoli and Castellabate, then pick up the SS447 and SS562 via Palinuro and the Marina di Camerota. This section of coast is very beautiful, and with relatively few tourists (unless you are there in August - this area is very popular with Italian holidaymakers). I enjoyed this section of road more than the Costiera Amalfitana. The section of the SS18 from Sapri via Maratea to Praia a Mare really is unmissable. At Praia a Mare you have the choice of following the old road that clings to the cliff edge or following the new SS18 over a huge viaduct. I thought the old road was fabulous but then I think the new one would also offer some spectacular views.


I only said that in general, I would avoid SS routes. Local knowledge, and recommendations like this are a good reason not to. Just as someone might say that some A roads are absolutely fine. But I wouldn't plan a trip by picking A roads off the map.
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andymiller
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Re: Itinerary for a tour in Southern Italy?

Post by andymiller »

Vorpal wrote:I only said that in general, I would avoid SS routes. Local knowledge, and recommendations like this are a good reason not to. Just as someone might say that some A roads are absolutely fine. But I wouldn't plan a trip by picking A roads off the map.


I should have said that I agreed with your advice as a general principle — it's what I do, and given a choice between a strada provinciale and a strada statale I would choose the first, unless, say, the strada statale was marked as particularly scenic, or I think there's a good chance it will be.
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